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In just a few minutes, Guan Deng had cracked Ge Dongyun's phone password. To a hacker like him, the passwords of various electronic devices were practically meaningless.
By comparing Ge Dongyun's phone, the task force confirmed that the Stepmother was not lying. At 8:21, Ge Dongyun received a text message from her Stepmother, and at 8:25, Ge Dongyun or the murderer replied with a simple "Mm." Jiang He flipped through Ge Dongyun's phone but found no useful clues.
Recently, Ge Dongyun had not been in contact with anyone and showed no signs of suicidal tendencies. Old Shao also did not believe that a girl would choose such a method to take her own life; he was convinced that Ge Dongyun had been murdered. However, behind this judgment lay an unsolvable mystery of a locked room.
The staff from the funeral home had arrived and were assisting Xu Yiman in transporting the body to the Forensic Doctor's Autopsy Room. Members of the task force stood in the hall, watching as the black body bag was slowly carried away by several workers. The uneven bulges on the surface of the bag clearly revealed the shape of the person inside.
Just yesterday, Ge Dongyun had been troubled by Zhuang Qinyun's runaway, but now she had no more worries. What remained was an unsolvable enigma.
The Stepmother held Ge Dongyun for the last time through the body bag, tears streaming down her face. Those who heard her were saddened, and Xu Yiman felt a lump in her throat, nearly shedding tears herself.
As the body was taken out, reporters gathered around, and it seemed that major media outlets would soon have headlines ready.
In the chaotic environment, several people's minds were in disarray, but one person remained unaffected—Jiang He, who stood outside Ge Dongyun's bedroom on the second floor. At that moment, Jiang He looked up at the second-floor window, contemplating whether he could climb up to it with his abilities.
The buildings in the area featured second floors designed in a Western Baroque style, with some reliefs and decorations on the walls creating uneven surfaces. This architectural style provided places for the murderer to gain leverage, offering more convenience compared to traditional Chinese high walls and deep courtyards.
Jiang He glanced around; the nearest streetlight was about five or six meters away, and its surveillance camera might not capture this spot.
With gloved hands clasped together, Jiang He lightly twisted his finger joints. The reporters were all focused on the body being carried out from the Ge Family residence, eagerly crowding around and failing to notice Jiang He slipping behind the wall. He placed one hand against the wall and pushed himself up until he was climbing it.
Using the decorative elements on the wall for support, Jiang He slowly ascended. This climb was neither too difficult nor too easy. If the murderer were a professional killer with a physique like Yuan Jun's, scaling it would be effortless. However, if the murderer had a physique similar to Jiang He's, it would require some effort; if they were less fit than Jiang He, then climbing over would be nearly impossible.
By the time Jiang He reached the second-floor window, he was drenched in sweat. Fortunately, the window ledge was deep enough for him to sit sideways and rest. The climb up to the second floor also served as an observation period for Jiang He. He noticed that there was almost no dust on these decorations; it seemed someone had cleaned them recently. However, aside from this area, other parts showed no signs of dust either—indicating that someone had been maintaining the building regularly.
Jiang He couldn't determine whether the Murderer had stepped on these reliefs. He lowered his head and noticed that his own footprints were left on them.
Jiang He raised his head and carefully observed the windows on the second floor. The glass was spotless, with no fingerprints or other smudges, and there were no signs that the glass had been removed. This ruled out the possibility that the Murderer had taken off the glass from the inside and then reinstalled it from the outside as an escape strategy.
Not willing to give up, Jiang He pushed and pulled at the window from the outside, but it didn't budge; it was locked tight.
Just as Jiang He was about to climb down from the second floor, he suddenly noticed something he had overlooked in the bedroom.
A hint of an answer formed in his mind.
"What are you doing?" A voice came from below Jiang He.
He looked down to see a security guard from A Team.
"Police," Jiang He replied. "I saw you when I was in the police car; you're the head of security."
"I thought you were up to something, but Officer, what are you doing hanging around there?" the security chief asked.
"I'm investigating a case," Jiang He responded.
Then he leaned against the windowsill on the second floor and looked around. "Let me ask you something. I looked around and noticed that the surveillance cameras are quite far from the residents' homes. I suspect that none of them can capture this position. Why is that?"
The security chief nodded. "That's correct; it is indeed like that. However, this isn't a matter of negligence; it was planned this way from the beginning. Many residents in this area are prominent figures who value their privacy, so all cameras are strictly prohibited from facing the buildings, especially the windows. It's not about fearing what we might see."
"This is a bit counterproductive, isn't it?" Jiang He said.
"That's the theory, but the developers planned it that way, and there's nothing we can do about it," the security captain replied.
Jiang He nodded and asked, "So, if I weren't a police officer but a thief, wouldn't it be quite easy to break into someone else's home?"
The security captain shook his head and hurriedly said, "It can't be like that. Surveillance is ultimately a passive measure; our personnel can't monitor everything twenty-four hours a day. We do have patrol teams that go out at all times, both day and night, to ensure the safety of the residents."
"If it's the Ge Family, how often would you come by?" Jiang He asked from his elevated position.
"About every ten minutes or so. We have two teams that take turns patrolling. At night, it's a bit less frequent—generally once at ten o'clock and once at midnight," the security captain answered honestly.
"Once every ten minutes," Jiang He murmured to himself. "That means the time left for the murderer isn't much. The murderer must either be a resident of the area or someone who has spent a long time casing the place and knows the security arrangements and patrol methods of Longling District very well."
"By the way," Jiang He asked again, "did you capture any suspicious individuals on camera?"
The security captain shook his head. "As soon as the incident occurred, we quickly retrieved footage from nearby cameras but didn't see anyone loitering around Ms. Wang's house. However, although there were no leads from the surveillance, one of my team members did see a mysterious person. We came to inform you about this matter."
"I'll check it out in detail later," Jiang He said.
"Sure thing," the security captain replied. "But please take your time; don't fall."
The second-floor window was not very high from the ground, about four meters up. Climbing up was challenging for Jiang He, but coming down was much easier since his feet could always find something to push against. When he was still about a meter above the ground, Jiang He jumped down directly.
When Jiang He went up, it took him about seven or eight minutes, but coming down, he used less than three minutes.
Jiang He looked up at the second floor again, and the answer in his heart became clearer.
As he walked back with a few security guards, Jiang He asked, "So, who is this mysterious person?"
A young man around nineteen years old, somewhat shy, replied, "Well, I often see a man in black wandering outside."
"Can you describe his appearance?" Jiang He asked.
The security guard shook his head and said, "I couldn't see his exact features because he was really strange. Even though it's not cold now, he's wearing long pants and long sleeves, with a mask and a hat, plus sunglasses. He always keeps his head down, so I can't see what he looks like."
"What about other characteristics? Height, weight, anything like that?" Jiang He pressed on.
The security guard answered, "He's about 1.7 meters tall, of average build—not too fat or too thin. He just wanders back and forth on that street outside; I have no idea what he's up to. But he's never come inside, so I didn't bother to intervene. Our team leader says that in this area, it's better to avoid trouble. Even if we see something we should handle, it's best not to get involved..."
The security team leader coughed twice and said to his subordinate, "Why are you bringing up other things when we're talking about that mysterious person?"
Jiang He didn't pay much attention to that: "How long have you been seeing him?"
The security guard nodded and said, "Yeah, I've seen him for about three or four times now."
"And today?" Jiang He asked.
The security guard said, "It's almost noon now; he should have arrived by now. It's strange that we haven't seen him."
"Could this person be the murderer?" the security team leader replied.
Jiang He did not answer but said, "There should be surveillance at the district entrance. Please copy all video footage that captured that person and send it to us. We'll be waiting at the Ge Family."
"Understood," the security team leader agreed repeatedly.
When they arrived at the entrance of the Ge Family, a group of reporters had already dispersed, and Yuan Jun was sitting on the steps.
Seeing Jiang He return, Yuan Jun complained, "Finally got rid of that bunch of pests. You can't scold them, can't hit them, and you can't chase them away. All you can do is persuade them over and over again. These reporters are like flies; their news travels faster than ours. I bet it won't be long before the police are back on the front page."
"That's true," Old Shao said as he walked out of the house. "Who informed these reporters? Stepmother called me directly, and we rushed over without even washing our faces, yet those reporters got here even faster than we did."
"It could be the murderer," Xu Yiman suggested. "He left that 'murder' note to attract attention, didn't he?"
Old Shao nodded and looked back at the Ge Family. "Exactly. If someone knew about Ge Dongyun's death faster than Stepmother, then that person must be the murderer."
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